What is the number of the Companions, may Allaah be pleased with them?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds.  I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

You should know that we cannot know for certain the number of the Companions   for two reasons:

1-      They resided in different cities, villages and deserts

2-      The names of the Companions were not recorded in a book to enable us to determine their exact number.  Ka'b ibn Maalik mentioned when he was telling the story of his absence from the Battle of Tabook, that the Companions of the Prophet were many and not recorded in a book. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Some scholars, including Abu Zur‘ah Ar-Raazi mentioned that the number of the Companions at the time of the death of the Prophet was 114 thousand. In addition, As-Suyooti mentioned that Al-Iraaqi narrated from Ar-Raafi‘i that there were 60,000 Muslims at the death of the Prophet 30,000 in Madeenah and a similar number among the Arab tribes. [As-Saaji in Al-Manaaqib (Saheeh)] However As-Suyooti denied the possibility of knowing this number, given the fact that the Companions resided in different cities, villages and deserts.

Then he commented on the opinion of Ar-Raafi‘i saying that the number of the Companions mentioned in the books of all those who wrote about the biographies of the Companions did not reach 10,000, despite the fact that they mentioned those who died during the life of the Prophet as well as those who were his compatriots while they were young.

Allaah Knows best.